Lost In La Mancha
Matinee and snacks
If you don't know what this film is, it is a documentary by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe about the rise and fall of a film that could have been, but was not. This film would have been The ManWho Killed Don Quixote, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort. And here's a blatant plug: go to the site, lostinlamancha.com.
Terry Gilliam has long been known as a man of vision. You might know him from such films as Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Baron Munchausen, Time Bandits, Jabberwocky -- you can't say the man doesn't have vision beyond the scope of most people's imaginations. (Not to mention the incomparable contributions to the Monty Python oeuvre.) He's done so much with so little money, what can't he do? The answer is: Make an epic about Don Quixote (a personal Holy Grail, if you will) on $32 million in Spain. The rapidity of the rise and fall of this film, the thin blade's edge the production was walking on even after hours of intensive labor had been logged, before the actors had even shown up, is painful to watch. It's painful, it's inevitable, and worst of all, it's damned entertaining of its own right.
It is not explained how Fulton and Pepe managed to have such astounding access with their documentary camera; or perhaps after Brazil, Gilliam routinely maps the origins of his work, to protect himself. No matter what, the footage is amazing. The only way it could be rationally explained is if the Don Quixote movie itself is a false dream, a phantom movie, created to make this documentary. I think not; but imagine if it were. A mockumentary like this would piss too many people off, despite some of the diplomacy of the commentary.
The literary irony of Gilliam's failed tilt at this project is made even more spooky when one considers there have been two major directors with control freak-driven visions attempting Don Q. and failing after only a few feet of footage - the first to try it was Orson Welles. The music is lovely, and the story clips along until just before the end, when it drags like a broken lance in the sand after a battle. What footage was successfully canned is all the more painful for being part of nothing. It's fascinating, and I bit off every one of my fingernails from the stress. Jean Rochefort was genetically engineered to play Quixote and he even had to learn English to accept the role - such exquisite agony to think of it! Some in the audience were laughing in an almost cruel way - it's not funny, per se - the laughter is the laughter of disbelief and pity. Yet it is entertaining, like a train wreck, but fortunately, only hope dies in this film.
Lest ye upstart filmmakers feel ye have the power in thy britches, come and see and be forewarned, the movies ain't all made with magic. Sadly, most of the problems would have disappeared with money. Lots and lots of it, but still, money. Perhaps that is the biggest tragedy of all, when an auteur like Gilliam has to scrape in an era when so much genuine crap receives nearly limitless budgets. Go see it.
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but just credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. reviews@cinerina.com Check out previous reviews at: http://www.cinerina.com http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource http://www.mediamotions.com for 1999 releases
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